Abbey profits soar by 25 percent
April 30, 2009
Yesterday, the Abbey bank announced that its pre-tax profits have increased by 25 per cent in the first quarter of this year, despite its bad debts doubling to almost £190 million. The Spanish-owned bank stated it had ridden out the economic storm.
The Abbey posted a surplus of £372 million and added that the acquisition of Bradford & Bingley and Alliance & Leicester last year had contributed to the profits.
Abbey is now the second largest mortgage lender Read more
CeFA and CeMAP courses out of date on eBay
April 29, 2009
Buying CeFA or CeMAP courses on eBay may appear a cheap option, however they are often a waste of time and more importantly, often breaching copyright laws. Indeed, we have written about courses on eBay before.
If a full time CeMAP or CeFA training course is out of the question for you then studying from home or ‘distance learning’ is an alternative that many prefer. There are some excellent training packages available that you can access and study online, and they are relatively inexpensive.
Cheap CeMAP courses on eBay are usually outdated. The ifs (Institute of Financial Services) updates all its syllabuses twice a year and Read more
Nationwide breaks mortgages promise
April 28, 2009
The Nationwide, Britain’s largest building society, shocked the market yesterday when it announced it would be breaking its promise and hiking its standard rate mortgage. The question now is, will rivals follow suit or take the moral high road?
The Nationwide had always promised that Read more
ifs launches two new qualifications
April 27, 2009
Further to our article about the FSA’s new banking rules, the ifs School of Finance is set to launch two new specialist qualifications to assist UK retail banks incorporate the FSA’s new framework for conducting retail banking.
The Certificate in Retail Banking Conduct of Business (CertRBCB) and the Diploma in Retail Banking Conduct of Business (DipRBCB) have Read more
Pensioners could free £611 billion with equity release
April 26, 2009
Equity release is a hot topic in the media at the moment and the Prudential has released figures this week demonstrating that struggling pensioners are sitting on a goldmine with approximately £611 billion worth of equity in their homes.
The Prudential Equity Release Index shows that despite Read more
FSA’s new banking rules
April 25, 2009
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) is tightening the rules on banking and is taking over all the retail banking regulation concerning conduct from the Banking Code Standards Board (BCSB) from November of this year.
This will give the FSA additional power and the right to fine companies that fall foul of these rules. These voluntary banking codes are currently enforced by the BCSC and govern the day to day relations between banks and their customers.
The FSA will expand the current rules to include the need to provide an efficient and prompt service to customers switching bank accounts. Credit unions Read more
Alliance & Leicester new tracker mortgage launches today
April 24, 2009
Alliance & Leicester is offering a new best buy tracker mortgage from today. The deal has a current rate of just 2.95% and for two years is set at 2.45% above the Bank of England base interest rate.
This new tracker mortgage makes Alliance & Leicester currently the second Read more
First time buyers disappointed by Budget
April 23, 2009
The efforts of this week’s Budget to revive the housing market disappointed many, including first time buyers, mortgage lenders, estate agents and housing associations.
The Chancellor, Alistair Darling, announced a £600 million package including:
• An extension of the stamp duty tax holiday until the end of this year for those properties selling for less than £175,000
• A £400 million injection to Read more
Homeowners Mortgage Support Scheme starts
April 22, 2009
The long awaited Homeowners Mortgage Support Scheme starts today and is estimated to provide around £1 billion of support to homeowners in an attempt to avoid anyone losing their home who has ‘demonstrated a willingness to pay’.
The scheme was due to start in January and has come undeer criticism due to the low number of mortgage lenders who have signed up so far and the delays in getting started.
The HMS scheme will allow Read more
Pensioners using equity release to pay mortgage
April 21, 2009
According to an equity release specialist, over a third of pensioners in the UK are still paying off their mortgage.
The figures shows that around 33 per cent of pensioners aged 65 or over still have a mortgage to pay off. Last year, the number of pensioners using equity release schemes to be able to pay their outstanding mortgage debt soared by an extra 38 per cent according to KRS (Key Retirement Solutions) with the Read more
